Is it normal for one’s legs to look smaller after increasing the intensity of one’s training!?
I’m doing about 6-7 hrs TR per week, for last 8 weeks or so. Prior to that I had done about 5hrs per week mostly z2 for 10+ years. I’ve dropped from 70kg to 65kg in that time… but assumed it was fat from places other than my legs.
Thats quite a lot in 8 weeks - I’d be making sure your are keeping on top of your nutrition – it’s a tough ask to assume you could build leg muscle while maintaining a large calorie deficit.
But if you are still seeing performance gains then that’s the main thing.
Sorry I missed the apostrophe, I thought you said ‘one’ leg smaller 
One leg is not normal IMHO. But about 18 years ago my left leg (muscle wise) looked visibly smaller than my right. It turned out my right leg is 2.5mm longer, and whilst it was a tiny amount it was working harder, and was visibly larger, making the left look small. It ended up causing a knee problem though. Because it was shorter, it pulled the left ITB taught, which in turn pulled the right patella out of alignment, so instead of running smoothly it was rubbing against the bone. Over time, and over night in the end, it was like a jagged knife stabbing into my knee. Touch wood since my right leg was shimmed, I’ve not had another serious knee issue. I’d get a bike fit if I was you to stave off anything developing.
disagree with everyone else, losing 5 kgs? you could definitely see some slightly smaller more defined legs
It’s really not.
The rule of thumb is anything under 2lbs/week is totally fine for muscle retention. That’s a ~650 caloric deficit daily, totally normal. Assuming OP is completing his workouts, there’s nothing inherently wrong with losing small amounts over time when going through a training block, he is burning more kcal through intensity than he was at Z2.
Impossible to say without knowing OP’s height and prior BF% but it’s possible he had that fat to lose. I’d bet the weight loss slows a bit.
Well my rule of thumb is 500cal and the OP was talking of increasing muscle not retention 
EDIT: no they didnt I seem to have made that up in my head 
But anyway - with that weight loss in 8 weeks I’d expect slightly smaller legs - ie some fat loss but little muscle gain
172cm, no idea about BF% I’m afraid
Appologies if that read like I was saying it was too much, I agree its not, just that it is significant so I’d expect you to look smaller…. including your legs….
Ha ha no worries. Ironically I have had a bike fit recently… a shim was added to one shoe… can’t remember if it stayed in!
I lose weight in my legs and arms first, starts at feet and hands and works its way inward to my trunk. Waist is last to look the way I want it.
Id say its normal for legs and other parts of your body to look smaller. 65kg @ 172 is not overly light so reckon you have shifted some fat and possibly lost some muscle.
Ive lost and kept off a similar amount of weight @ 177cm in the last 5 years and moved from a large bib shorts to medium.
Just out of interest what would cause loss of muscle if I’m cycling more and at greater intensity?
Not saying this is the case for you now…. but if you were to run a calorie deficit that is too large because you are not fueling your workouts then you could lose muscle mass as well as fat.
I would say that your rate of loss is on the higher end of ideal but probably fine.
You are unlikely to be able to gain much muscle mass while you are running that deficit though - especially if just relying on cycling intensity.
Protein intake and resistance training are also very important.
I don’t think you mentioned if you actually wanted to loose weight or not? If you don’t then you just need to eat more 
Aah ok, i have the usual (or at least not unusual!) road cyclist obsession with weight. I wasn’t purposefully trying to lose weight, but was pleased when I did. I’m certainly on the lean side of things now. I haven’t tracked calories in, but will do so a bit more closely to make sure I am not running too much of a deficit.
I’d be very surprised if 100% of your weight loss is fat, due to calorie deficit I’d expect some loss of muscle albeit small even if you are on top of your protein and doing resitence training.
I’d not be worried if are you are producing better or equal watts than pre weight loss.
My diet is mostly protein & fat, but i don’t do any other training (resistance or otherwise). I did get my weights out of the cupboard this week though! Only 10 years of dust on ‘em 
I always lose muscle the more I work out for cycling and lose weight. I never really go down in terms of body fat with weight fluctuations. Perhaps I could be more scientific about this and carefully track nutrition to see how this works, but it’s something I’ve noticed over the last 10 years. Gain muscle, gain weight, lose muscle, lose weight.
Whenever one loses weight, it comes from both fat stores and lean body mass.
You lost that much in just 8 weeks? Intentionally? Maybe you need to eat and fuel more?
I wasn’t counting calories in or out, so I wasn’t intentionally losing weight (nor was I ensuring I fuelled correctly). I just ate when I was hungry, but have never been one for eating for fun.
When you lose fat it’s lost globally, you can’t target locations where it’s dropped (as much as diet fads will try and tell you otherwise).
So, if your PBF has decreased, you will see a reduction in volume everywhere, including your legs. To not see a volume decrease in your leg volume you’d have to gain a significant amount of muscle which, in 8wk, isn’t likely.
I can give an example:
Dropped (intentionally) from 74kg to 69kg over the course of three months. In that time all of my jeans started to fit more normally around legs and waist. In this period I was training in the base period.
After that my training entered the build phase and it took 6months for my leg volume to increase at all, despite power increases. My quads and upper legs are far more defined, but they’re still smaller than at that upper weight.